MELBOURNE, Fla.–Staff members of MC Assembly added Lean Enterprise Simulations to their tool boxes during a series of workshops led by the Incito Consulting Group, a Lean and Six Sigma management consulting firm.

Luis Ramirez, MC Assembly's chief operations officer, said in a press release that he saw improvements at the company following the workshops. He said the training helped MC Assembly employees focus on efficiency and ways to improve how they accomplish their everyday tasks.

"First we found out that a lot of our people have skills they have not been asked to utilize before," Ramirez said. "People are not afraid to speak up and be part of the solution. They freely contribute ideas for improvement if they think of a better way to do something. We've seen a lot of people step up and suggest some great ideas"

Incito's consultants teach Lean methodologies through a hands-on simulation. Lean manufacturing has become a very popular way of eliminating waste in production processes defined by making obvious what adds value by reducing everything else. The workshop focused on improving group problem solving skills, team work, and efficiency.

"Incito Man is a great way to get everyone on the same page," said Tom Reed, of the Incito Consulting Group. "New hires are on boarded through their new employee orientation. Plant managers are responsible for shepherding the projects at the plant level."

Incito training provides lean manufacturing tools to enable employees to understand concepts before using simulation to apply the lessons to real life situations.

"Through this simulation, every employee gets a sense of what other departments do," Ramirez said. "They learn about each department and how the company works as a whole. When they go back to their normal work, they have a much better understanding of the whole process and that leads to better ideas on how to improve it.

"The Incito Man sessions exceeded all my expectations of team work, collaboration and engagement," Ramirez continued. "The purpose of investing in this kind of training is to empower our people by giving them tools to make significant change to provide better service and quality."

MC Assembly (www.mcati.com), based in Melbourne, Fla., is a contract manufacturer that focuses on assembly of medium volume, medium- mix printed circuit board assemblies (PCBAs), and box builds. The company has additional operations in Billerica, Massachusetts, and Zacatecas, Mexico.